Lorenzo Leads Tight Opening Day in Germany

Jorge Lorenzo stole a march on the opposition on Friday at the Sachsenring as a second covered 18 riders in free practice. The Spaniard pulled out a quarter of a second on the field in the closing stages of FP2 as a frantic dash to secure a provisional Q2 spot saw several big names drop outside the top ten.

The morning session saw Andrea Iannone make a bright start for Suzuki, the Italian edging out eight-times Sachsenring winner Marc Marquez. The reigning champion had dominated proceedings until a late burst from Iannone on softer tyres lowered the benchmark by four tenths of a second.

Marquez regained top spot immediately at the start of FP2, usurping Iannone’s morning time with his first flying lap of the afternoon, but the dash to secure a Q2 spot transformed the overall picture. Lorenzo leapt from eighth to first with the first sub-1:21 lap of the weekend, with Danilo Petrucci following close behind to grab second, while Iannone improved himself with the final lap of the day to take third spot overall.

Andrea Dovizioso relegated Marquez to fifth while Maverick Vinales was the sole Yamaha inside the top ten in sixth, just ahead of the impressive Takaaki Nakagami. The Japanese rookie outpaced his experienced team-mate Cal Crutchlow in ninth with the two remaining Q2 spots currently held by Jack Miller in eighth and Alvaro Bautista in tenth.

Two riders saw their weekends ended by injury on Friday with KTM wildcard Mika Kallio side-lined after a heavy crash at turn eight while Franco Morbidelli withdrew after failing to overcome the injuries he sustained at Assen. His misfortune will at least provide the home supporters with a German rider to cheer, with Stefan Bradl stepping in at Marc VDS.